


Chaos Isn't A Boy

by frostiwars



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Gen, Headcanon, Human, LGBTQ Themes, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nonbinary Character, One Shot, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29339034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostiwars/pseuds/frostiwars
Summary: If one is the spirit of chaos, one would think they would lie outside of the typical binary.Discord didn't give it much consideration until he really thought about what a "guy's night" is.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Chaos Isn't A Boy

**Author's Note:**

> i got extremely super inspired by "the perfect gift" by user Adrian (MxDucktective) so i'm gonna project enby-ness onto my fave 
> 
> this is "human" humanoid au. its just like... people with wings and gardevoir type horns in their chests in equestria. but the only thing of note is that discord is literally stitched together like a frankenstein's monster type deal. other than that the designs are pretty average human designs.
> 
> sometime in season six because i'm not very caught up past that point

Fluttershy watched Discord rap his talons against the wood lining of the couch and aimlessly tap his goat hoof. She silently sipped her tea, still not taking her eyes off of him. Somehow, he didn't seem to notice her gaze boring down on him; he was far too distracted. He subconsciously twirled a lock of his black hair and continued to tap against the couch. The rhythmic tapping echoed through the mostly silent room, leaving Fluttershy rather on edge. His inattentiveness seemed to radiate from him, causing some of her smaller belongings to drift around in the air, like someone was dangling them by a thin string.

"Um... Discord?"

"Hm..." Discord shifted his lion arm underneath his chin.

"You uh... seem a little distracted today."

"Do I now. What makes you say that?"

Fluttershy let her gaze flicker between the lazily drifting dishes and him. She tilted her head in indication.

"Ah, right." Discord flicked his tail slightly and the dishes gently tumbled to the ground. "Terribly sorry about that." 

"Is something wrong?"

"Ha! Of course not!" 

Fluttershy lifted an eyebrow in suspicion and took a well placed sip of tea. Discord fumbled with his words for a moment before continuing. 

"Well- I mean- I was just thinking after all, in my good old thinking tree- I've told you about that right? Because I don't think I have-"

"Discord, you're getting off topic."

The amalgamated man laughed nervously and flicked his tail again. "R- right. Anyways, so I was thinking about the guys night, you know, the thing with-" Fluttershy gave him a look saying he didn't need to explain what a guys night was. She could already tell he was trying to avoid talking about whatever was bothering him. "And I really started thinking about that term. 'Guys night.'" He turned his fingers into quotation marks (literally) and a look of irritation slipped onto his face. 

"Did something bad happen the last time you three hung out?"

"Oh no no, I had a wonderful time destroying everything in my path with my AMAZING... archery... skills." He flicked his ears slightly. "But I just... well- I don't know if it's even important..." 

That gave Fluttershy pause. It struck her as odd that Discord would diminish his troubles like that, considering how self-important he always was. But that just made her worry even more. She set down her teacup, tucked her hair out of her face, and stood up. "You know you can tell me anything, right? It's okay, really." 

Discord recoiled slightly. "I know that! I just- I just don't know how to say it. I don't-" He averted his gaze and finally spilled out, "I don't think I'm a guy!"

Fluttershy froze for a moment in confusion. "So... you're a girl?"

"No! I'm not- I don't think I'm a boy or a girl! I'm neither, nothing, something else! Just not... those two!" Discord shoved himself to his feet and began to pace anxiously. "But I don't even know what that means. I mean, I think I always knew it but everyone just called me a boy because I looked and sounded like what you Equestrians would call a boy. But I know I'm not! But everyone thinks I am and- I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this!"

Fluttershy drifted closer to him. "Is there anything wrong with you not being a boy or a girl?"

"No, no that's not the problem. I know this is great, I know I'm awesome and my gender is great but other people probably won't!"

She twirled a strand of her long, pink hair. Fluttershy knew that despite how confident he pretended to be, Discord was ridiculously insecure. "You know if people don't like you because of that, they aren't very good people at all."

"Yes I know THAT." Discord scoffed. "I'm not a child." 

Fluttershy held back a snicker that came out as a puff of air escaping her nose. That notion was a little silly. It was hard for her to remember Discord was centuries old when he acted so childish all the time. But she couldn't laugh at him when he was clearly upset. Flapping her wings lightly, she flew up to his eye level and placed a sweater-covered hand on his shoulder. 

"There's nothing wrong with you for not being like everyone else, I'm sure you already know that."

"I do, I do! But everyone hates me for every little thing about me that's different! This is a good-weird thing about me but it'll just be treated like another bad-weird thing about me!" It stung the girl's heart a little to hear such distress in Discord's voice. "Why do I even try when everything about me is going to be hated?"

Fluttershy pulled him into a hug. Surely there was something she could say to help? Well... if she tried hard enough, she could remember hearing about something like this before....

"You know-" she loosened her hug slightly-"I've never met anyone like it personally, but I think I've heard of other people out there who are neither boys nor girls. So you're not alone in that. Besides, there are people who decide they want to be a different gender than what they were born with, and we treat them just like anyone else." She ruffled the hair on his head. "I'm sure no one will mind if you decide to be a 'neither.' And if they do... then I guess I'll have to give them a stern talking to." 

A small smile cracked across Discord's face. "Ah, look at me. Spirit of chaos having to hide behind a little pegasus. How the mighty have fallen." 

Fluttershy giggled and returned to her seat. Picking up her tea and stirring in a sprinkle of sugar, she asked, "So if you're a 'neither,' do I still call you he?"

"I suppose I don't mind; I didn't before after all." Discord sat down and crossed his legs. He then snapped his talon and poured some purple, honey-like substance into his tea. 

"...Would you mind being called she?"

Discord spawned a dress and parasol for himself and replied, "Not at all, darling." Then he despawned them. "Although, I do wish there was a pronoun for the neither as well. I could do with all three. I'm a greedy little pronoun dragon."

"Well, what do you say when you don't know the gender of the person you're talking about?" Fluttershy tapped her teaspoon against her cheek in thought. 

"Well SOME people say he or she, but most say they, do they not?" He then winked.

"So they would be a good neither pronoun for you!" Fluttershy bounced her leg slightly. Excitement blossomed in her chest as she watched her friend's happiness grow through the conversation. "Oh, is the term actually a neither? That sounds a little strange."

"Normally I would be perfectly happy with 'a little strange' but I agree, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Actually-" Discord grabbed a mysterious book out from underneath the couch and began flipping through the pages at sonic speed. "Aha, here it is. 'Non-binary.' Well! That's quite the lovely chaotic word. It reminds me of entropy!"

"Oh yes, it does make sense. But how would we shorten it?"

"I'd assume like how you Equestrians shorten woman to man."

"That's... not what that means."

"Really? I suppose I've been using it wrong for a while then." Discord threw the book behind him and out the window, creating an explosion sound effect. "But I guess that doesn't answer the question does it. How about non?"

"I don't know. Maybe but..." Fluttershy muttered the term under her breath. "How about NB? Spelled like e-n-b-y?"

Discord rocketed out of his seat in excitement. "Fluttershy dear, you are a creative GENIUS!" 

"Oh, it's nothing really. I just wanted to help." 

Discord scooped the significantly shorter girl up in his arms and spun her around in a circle. "Oh but you have no IDEA how wonderful this feels! I need to go tell the guys about this! OH OH and your other girl friends! I'll be right back!" With that, Discord disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Fluttershy to nearly crash into the couch. After smoothing out her clothes, she smiled to herself and decided to go on ahead and let the other elements know he was on the way. 

............................................

Discord considered themself very lucky that Spike was already at Sweet Apple Acres. They also immediately realized how satisfying it was to refer to themself as things other than himself. They became so distracted in their own mind calling themself different pronouns that they almost overlooked the scaly little boy walking through the orchard. They skidded to a stop in midair with a very audible tire sound effect and dropped themself directly in front of him, cracking a small hole in the ground.

"AH!! Discord?? What are you doing here?"

"I have absoLUTely imperative news regarding you and Large Macintosh Computer. We must meet in the barn in approximately five minutes (give or take a few minutes)." 

"How did you make audible parentheses? Also what's the news?" 

"Well I can't tell you that until you get there, now can I?" Discord waved their tail goodbye and rocketed back into the sky with a 'tata,' leaving Spike very confused and mildly concerned.

"Wait, what's a computer..."

Spike cautiously trailed through the orchard, pondering what horrors Discord could possibly have in store. Alright, perhaps that was a bit mean. Sure, he could be pretty meanspirited every now and then, and sure, he'd done some pretty bad things before, but nowadays his little stunts leaned more to the fun side of the scale than the horrifying and dangerous side. So as Spike ran these thoughts over in his head, he grew less and less nervous as the Apple Acres barn drew closer. Besides, he did say it was news involving him and Big Mac, so it probably had something to do with guys night. 

Spike eased open the barn door and was greeted by Discord sitting Big Mac down on a bale of hay. "Oh you've arrived right on time! I'm a little disappointed!" 

Spike had trouble believing that, considering how ecstatic Discord looked. "Alright well, we're here. What is it you wanted to say?" He walked over to Big Mac and awkwardly crawled onto the hay bale as well. 

"It's involving our little guys night-" 

"Called it."

"Yes thank you, no interruptions until the end please." Discord pulled a projector screen down from nowhere and slapped a ruler against it, lighting it up. "Theoretically, suppose there were three boys having a fun little guys night with their favorite fantasy-based tabletop game." Three rather featureless blue figures appeared on the screen.

"I'll have you know that I am a MAN," interjected Spike. 

"What did I just say?" The older man shot an oddly intense glare at him. "Continuing. Now say... one of these boys realized they weren't actually a boy. But they weren't a girl either. The other two said that it was a guys night because there weren't any girls." One of the figures turned from blue to green. "Would the not-boy-not-girl non-binary still be included? Because I don't think they broke any of the rules and even if they did, I don't think they would care about that buttheydocareaboutkeepingtheirfellowtabletopgamershappy." Discord sputtered out that last sentence rather quickly before immediately snapping the screen out of existence. 

Spike and Big Mac shot confused glances between each other. Spike's leg began to bounce as he considered what to say.

"Well... I guess since they aren't a girl, they would still be included. And it would be kinda mean to kick them out even if they decided they were later." 

"E'yup." 

Discord flicked his ears and looked about on the brink of exploding. "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAiii mean, uh- I'm rather glad to hear that you two acknowledge how indispensable I am to the group. Honestly, you'd be utterly lost without me."

Spike rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. "And who had to have their character rescued from a patch of wild raging potatoes?"

"OH would you look at the time I suddenly have something else to do well see you later faretheewell goodbye!"

...........................................................................

Fluttershy gave a passing wave to Starlight as she entered the crystalline castle and drifted in the general direction of the throne room. Perhaps she was just stalling a little. It wasn't that she thought her friends wouldn't accept it, she just... couldn't predict HOW they would react. She'd been far better with her anxiety then she used to be, but it didn't stop her from overthinking things, especially when it came to Discord and her other friends. She loved them all very much, and it wasn't anyone's fault that they argued more than most, and they didn't dislike each other, they were good friends, they were- 

Fluttershy nearly ran into a wall, too distracted by her own thoughts. She shook her head and finally made her way inside the throne room.

"Um, hello girls." 

Pinkie Pie noticed her first and bounced over, wrapping her up in a tight hug that nearly lifted her off the floor. "Hey Fluttershy! How's it going?"

Fluttershy straightened her hair slightly. "It's going very well actually. I had a very nice talk with Discord today."

Rarity looked up from her compact mirror. "Oh yes, it's your tea day with him, is it not? What did you two talk about?"

"That's actually what I came here for." A slight smile spread over Fluttershy's a face as she settled into her seat. "They actually have something to tell you all."

"They!?" Rainbow Dash asked incredulously. "Oh boy, did he clone himself? Are we gonna have to deal with more than one of him?"

"Um. N- no. Not exactly." Fluttershy was surprised by how already awkward it was to hear someone call Discord not a they. Well, they did say they didn't mind he, but it was more so because the others didn't know that yet. "It'll make sense when they arrive, but I don't think I should tell you. It's not my place to say it."

Twilight peeked over the edge of her book in concern. "Sounds pretty serious..."

"Oh no no, it's nothing bad or anything to worry about. It's just important to them."

"Ya'll didn't hook up, didjya?" Applejack squinted at her with a side eye. 

Rarity put a hand to her mouth in a gossipy manner. "Oh dear, that is it, isn't it?" 

Pinkie Pie interjected before Fluttershy had an opportunity to respond. "Don't worry Fluttershy, we won't think its weird if you two started dating! I TOTALLY see what you see in him!"

Fluttershy considered shrinking in on herself and compressing into a ball of embarrassment. Why couldn't Discord show up already?? "N- no that's not it. Uh- like I said, they'll explain it when they get here..." 

Luckily for her blush levels, they snapped into existence with a brilliant flash of light and a bombastic "Hellooooooooo girls!!" 

"Ah, there you are." She smiled and pressed her hand to her heart. "I already told them you had something to say, so you can take it from here."

"Excellent!" Discord slid onto a spontaneously appearing crystalline seat not unlike the thrones surrounding the map. "My oh MY do I have quite the news to tell you all!" 

"Is it that you're moving away?" Rainbow jeered with a smug grin on her face. 

"Sadly no, I haven't figured out extradimensional travel yet." Discord stretched their arm towards her and hit her over the head with a baseball bat, creating a strange, high-pitched bonk sound. "This has to do with something much simpler. You see darlings-"

"Darling is my word, darling!" Rarity piped up.

"Why is everyone interrupting me today?? Honestly. Anyways. I have come to the conclusion that I am not a boy. I mean really, if you think about it, I'm not really a boy or a girl now am I? I'm the spirit of chaos, how could I be expected to be? I've already told dear Fluttershy and my fellow guys night friends, and I believe it'd be best to tell you all as well. We are friends after all!" They lifted an eyebrow with a smirk at the last statement.

A range of expressions washed over the other five's faces, from confusion to introspection to interest. But none of them said anything. Fluttershy watched the smile on Discord's face twitch slightly and she resisted the urge to hover over and reassure him. But she couldn't jump to any conclusions yet; she had to have faith in her friends! Finally though-

"-Yeah that makes sense actually!" Pinkie Pie piped up. "That's really neat!" She hopped over to Discord and gave him a quick hug. "I know personally how important gender is to people!"

Discord gave a semi-confused, semi-appreciative look. "Really now?" 

"Mhm!"

Rarity stood up and brushed off her shirt. "I have to agree with Pinkie, Discord dear."

"What- so you're not getting called a he anymore?" Rainbow Dash passively circled him in the air. "That why Flutters was calling you they?"

Discord perked up on hearing that. "Why yes indeed!" He shot a quick thankful glance at the smaller winged girl. "Although I can be called he or she too!"

"What, you're fine with being called a girl?" she smirked. 

"Come now, you're telling me you of all people wouldn't get it? R A I N B O W ? ?" 

Applejack walked underneath Rainbow Dash, giving her an innuendous look. "Yeah Rainbow, you of all people?"

"Wh- what are you two talking about??" She somehow audibly blushed and sheepishly drifted to the ground. "I- I'm just joking around- I-"

Applejack patted her on the shoulder and looked back up at Discord. "Well it's not like I have a problem with it. Not like I could do anything about it even if I did. None of my business," she shrugged. 

Discord grinned between the girls before finally glancing anxiously at Twilight. Everyone else followed their gaze and she buried her face in her book from all the attention.

"Oh, is something wrong Twilight?" Fluttershy placed a hand on the girl's folded wing. 

"N- no... I just didn't realize..."

"Realize what?"

"Well I didn't realize anyone else felt like me."


End file.
